Supplier of home textiles to European retailers, Zaber and Zubair Fabric aims to improve its bottom lines by going greener. The company installed two plants in 2010 to recover 95 per cent caustic soda from water to rinse fabrics made into goods like sheets and pillow covers, saving 6.5 million litre of caustic soda annually as well as sulphuric acid.

The plants also generate hot water as a by-product, which is used in machines to process fabrics at high temperatures, economizing on water and electricity. The plants have helped the factory save $3.8 million a year through buying fewer chemicals, treating less waste water and lowering energy bills. Zaber and Zubair Fabrics has installed rooftop solar panels to generate about 400 kw power. It plans to add more solar capacity in the coming years.

According to a 2020 study by Global Fashion Agenda and McKinsey & Company, the apparel industry produces 4 per cent of the world’s planet-warming emissions, equal to the combined annual total of France, Germany and Britain. The UN Environment Program in 2019 also estimated fashion industry’s share of global carbon emissions at 10 per cent

Though Bangladesh’s overall emissions are tiny compared with industrialized countries, its garment sector is the world’s second-largest exporter of clothes and employs about 4 million people.

Last year, the Green Climate Fund, the main UN-backed climate finance channel for developing countries, approved a $250-million loan program for projects to make garment factories in Bangladesh more energy efficient.

The Partnership for Cleaner Textile (PaCT), a program led by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) practices, has also helped 338 Bangladeshi factories cut their greenhouse gas emissions by more than half a million tonne a year. The program recommendations have helped factories each save thousands of dollars annually, curb emissions and save water.